Quote from: jb on July 10, 2011, 12:59 PM
I actually got a North Indian special on Friday delivered from a new place that posted me a menu.It's called the 'Elachi' in Purfleet.No idea what the place is like(it also does pizzas!!!) but the North Indian is the simply the best I've ever had.It lists among it's ingredients 'sour spices' whatever they may be but it's fantastic,you must give it go-I'd be interested to see if you can work out what gives it the extraordinary taste.

JB Tried the North Indian from the Elachi with special rice and saag bahji.  Rice was very nice -heavy on the peas and had quite a lot of onion in it.  The saag however was at best average and very wet.  Would not recommend that.  NI was nice but very tame on heat for my liking.  Chef probably being a bit over cautious as I'd asked for it phall strength ;D.  Most restaurants seem a bit reluctant to ramp it up  unless they know their customers.  I still rate Spices NI better though.  The Elachi version was over done with the red food colouring.  Taste wise very similar - that rich oniony / peppery taste with a hint of savoury sweetness (but not sickly) with a souring edge to it.
Anyway the quest continued tonight.  Made a couple of changes (all in red)f to quantities included tamarind concentrate, whole chillis and a couple of cloves of chopped garlic.  I opted for tamarind as the souring agent first rather than using amchoor powder.  That may be the next step.  Recipe update posted below.  Looking forward to feedback from anybody that has given this a go or any thoughts on improving it.

main dish
- portion of chicken tikka  ( i always use Blade's recipe - tikka par excellence!!)

- 2 tsp fresh pureed garlic
- 2 cloves of garlic roughly diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste (already diluted 50/50)
- 300ml curry base (CA's)
- 2 tsp spice mix (CA's)
- 2 tbsp chilli powder (or more to taste)
- 1 tsp tandoori masala  (my own blend but any will do)
- 0.5 tsp all purpose seasoning
- 3 tsp pureed mango chutney
- small tomato halved
- 0.5 tsp of tamarind concentrate
- fresh chopped coriander (to taste)
- 5 whole chillies


The chopped garlic was added with the garlic puree and the tamarind was added with the APS and mango chutney and small tomato halved.

Conclusions were that the tamarind definitely added a pleasant depth of sourness, not the acidic

Very positive results being reported by CRO members so far.  And prompting some interesting questions as well.  Good to have you on board Abdul.  Long may it continue.  Look forward to having a go at your recipes in the near future once i've completed my other cooking projects ;D

Quote from: Razor on July 17, 2011, 12:37 PM

I'm guessing it was probably me who made the comment about the base ;D ;D
Ray

Hi Ray.  I think i have read in several threads by different people that they  believe that technique makes a huge difference and that it isn't a question of the  quality of the base used.  Not sure whether you share this view or not.  I am inclined to think otherwise although i could be persuaded if given hard tasty evidence .  My intention is to pitch 5 bases against one another with exactly the same ingredients and technique for one dish.  From that i should be able to draw some conclusions. If not, I'll have had a damn fine feast on curry with some left over for later ;D ;D.
I will be trying CT's 3 hour base as per spec, sieving as well .  From all accounts so far there seems to be some milage in cooking onions whole.
Will be interested in your comments re. your base made using whole onions.  CT's base is the next one to do followed by yours.  I am sure you'll be providing feedback and a revised Razor base if you believe it's warranted before i cook it up.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D.  And who said it's got to be down to technique during cooking and little to do with the base?  My memory fails me.  Whilst i think technique can impact a dish i am a firm believer in finding the base that suits the chef.  We all have favourite dishes which we aspire to replicate and we compare our efforts against our favourite BIR's.  At the end of the day it's all down to one's own personal taste and ones experience of dishes from BIR's and TA's that one regularly uses which provide a yardstick of sorts.  This curry cooking lark is one huge Pandora's box .  But i am sure we'll all Curry on regardless .  Nice to see some positive feedback on Abdul's  base and spice mix used to make this dish.  Would be interesting to hear feed back of a side by side comparison - Abdul's vs Ray's spec .  Have put this dish on my radar Ray with whatever base and spice mix i have at the time, although your base is on the "to do" list.  Got to crack the North Indian Special first though

Hi Matt.  Base looks good but it does bare a little resemblance to some finished curries .  Long as it works for you and gives you the end results.  I can remember in the early days my curry gravy was certainly thicker than it is now.  My curry efforts nowadays are certainly better of yesteryear but  i don't put that down to the thickness of my gravy ;D.  Your recipe seems to have the normal ingredients one would expect to find and i suspect you're using approx 2lb of onions.  What quantity of gravy do you end up with after the whole process is done???

Quote from: Cory Ander on July 13, 2011, 02:01 AM

Quote from: curryhell on July 09, 2011, 04:50 PM
Made my first batch of CA's base last month and i've got to say it's damn good and easy to throw together.  The resultant curries are good quality BIR.  Just done my second batch now and will be using this base regularly from now on.

Hi CH,

Thanks for trying the recipes and reporting back, with photos.  Your vindaloo looks very nice...and a great colour 

And damn tasty it was too .  Thanks for sharing the base CA.

Quote from: solarsplace on July 11, 2011, 10:23 AM
Flipping heck 

Now, I love a hot curry, but.... 4 table spoons of chilli powder + 5 chillis 

It does look delicious though, thanks for sharing your recipe and posting the great pics.

Cheers

What i didn't include in the recipe was a heaped tsp of fried dried red chillis which i'd also blended to give it something a little bit more oomph ;D;D;D;D.  It's lurking in the jar next to the jar of garlic puree in the first pic.  Not for the faint hearted though

Quote from: Razor on July 10, 2011, 09:16 PM
You could always try 1 tsp of Amchoor (ground mango) as a souring agent too!
Ray

That spice is already on my radar Ray.  May go with the tamarind concentrate first

Quote from: curryhell on July 10, 2011, 01:55 PM
I reckon my efforts so far scores 75%.  With the addition of more precooked charred onions and peppers, half tsp of amchoor and one of tamarind concentrate i could push it a bit further .

Look forward to further experimentation with positive results i hope

Quote from: coogan on July 10, 2011, 08:05 PM
Perhaps Curryhell they use a teaspoon or two of Chana Masala spice mix for that sour taste I use it a lot when I make a chickpea dish.

Thanks for that Coogan.  I haven't come across that one.  I take it it's one of those packet mixes that can be found in asian grocer stores like chaat masalla?  I make channa curry regularly using just mix powder and the normal common curry ingredients.  Maybe i need to give this a whirl to see if it makes a marked difference and improvement.

Quote from: Razor on July 10, 2011, 03:28 PM
Hey Curryhell,

Another great looking dish my friend.  Great to see more members providing pictures too, it gives is a good guide as to what we are aiming for.

Very well done,

Ray

Cheers for that Ray .  It's always good to see the end product of ones labours ;D.  The dish is still in the creation stage at the mo but i'm sure it will evolve quickly.  Jb is going to give it a go since he knows exactly  what i'm aiming for as we both have eaten the dish from the same restaurant . Will post any update / conclusions as the experiment continues.  Maybe some other members will take up the gauntlet?